Organised by the British Society of
Underwater Photographers in association with DIVER Magazine

The London International Dive Show,
ExCel, 28th-29th March 2009

The Wildlife Trusts Selection

Luke Atkinson - Highly Commended

Highly Commended - Kelp forest by Luke
Atkinson

I've been diving since 2004, starting off
as a research diver in the Seychelles. Back in England I
started instructing in 2006 and joined my first club, Wet
Wrecks in Chelmsford. I am now an avid UK diver with 500+
dives worldwide, and together with my partner Tracy whom I
have taken to instructor level recently, am about to move
abroad to teach and guide in Egypt (UK waters will be sorely
missed).

As for the photo, it was taken on a weekend
diving trip to Plymouth last September. It was one of
those perfect weekends, flat calm, good viz and plenty of
life. The site was the east side of Burgh Island just outside
the sound, and the scene I shot was just something that
caught my eye, with the stones running through the kelp and
the rocks, while the sun was beating down. I took one
landscape, examined it, changed to portrait and shot again,
and that was that. I should confess I took the shot
with a Fuji F31 compact and used no strobe or lenses, only
a manual white balance, but I have not photoshopped
the image at all. I'll be using the vouchers I won to
put towards a strobe!